Sliding Roof Device

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a sliding roof device, and more particularly to a sliding roof device for opening and closing an opening of a vehicle roof.

2. Description of the Related Arts

A sliding roof for vehicles is generally shown in FIG. 6, wherein a pair of guide rails 6, 6 are provided in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. An opening 2 is provided in a roof 1 of the vehicle and a slide panel 3, generally formed by a transparent material such as a glass, is slidably disposed in the opening 2 to open or close the opening 2 of the roof 1 by the slidable movement along the guide rails 6, 6. Numerals 4, 4 designate slide elements and numerals 5, 5 designate shoes. These shoes and slide elements are connected to the slide panel 3 through cables (not shown) and slidably guided in the guide rails 6, 6. Numeral 7 designates an actuator, such as an electric motor, for driving the cables. Numerals 9, 9 designate rain gutters for discharging rain therein to the outside of the vehicle through pipes 8, 8.

The rain gutter and the guide rail structure of a conventional type is shown in FIG. 7, which corresponds to the Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-35005(1986). In this prior art, an aluminum-based alloy guide rail 6 is secured to a housing 9 made of resin which has a rain gutter portion 10 having a U-shaped cross section next to the guide rail 6.

Another conventional type of a guide rail structure is shown in FIG. 8, which corresponds to the Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 3-227(1991). In this prior art, an extension is formed integrally with the guide rail 6 to form a U-shaped rain gutter 10 in cross section. The free end of the extension is secured to a housing portion 9 at the point 11 to fixedly secure the guide rail 6 to the vehicle body (not shown). Since the extension is formed integrally with the guide rail 6, the vertical thickness of the structure is relatively small compared to that shown in FIG. 7. In other words, the vertical thickness (t) in FIG. 7 is not necessary for the type shown in FIG. 8. This is important because a vehicle having a sliding roof device has to have some limited space under the roof to accomodate parts of sliding roof device. In a limited space of the compartment of a vehicle, such space as required for mounting the sliding roof device has to be small as possible. The conventional type shown in FIG. 8 may obviate disadvantages of the type shown in FIG. 7, but may have another disadvantage that the forming of the U-shaped gutter portion 10 by a bending process is difficult due to possible shape change at the bent portion after the hot extrusion process of aluminum alloy guide rail. This will, in turn, lead to difficulties in securing the flange portion 11 to the housing 9. Further, during the bending process, corner portions shown in FIG. 6 as "A" may shrink and conventionally to avoid such disadvantages, such corner portions A are cut after the bending process and replaced with corner pieces prepared separately. This requires another step for manufacturing the guide rails.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to obviate the above conventional drawbacks.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved sliding roof device which is simple in design and compact in size.

According to the present invention, a sliding roof device for vehicles includes a pair of guide rails, each being provided oppositely in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, an opening provided in a vehicle roof, a roof panel slidable along the pair of guide rails for opening and closing the opening of the roof, an extension of a U-shaped cross section integrally formed with each of the pair of guide rails and a rain gutter having a channel provided overlappingly on the extension of the guide rails for discharging rain or water in the channel outward the vehicle.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate several embodiments of the present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the sliding roof device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view showing detail structure of a guide rail and a rain gutter;

FIG. 3 shows a view for another embodiment of the present invention, and showing a perspective view similar to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a view for still another embodiment of the present invention, and showing a perspective view similar to FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the present invention similar to FIG. 2, but showing a securing portion between the guide rail and the rain gutter;

FIG. 6 shows a plane view of a general type of sliding roof devide;

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but showing a prior art device; and

FIG. 8 shows a cross section of another prior art sliding roof device.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 a sliding roof device for vehicles has a pair of guide rails 12, 12 to which pipes 18, 18 are secured.

Cables (not shown) will be inserted into the pipes 18, 18 and guided in hole 13 and space 18' of the guide rails. In FIG. 2, the guide rails 12, 12 have a pair of opposing walls 14, 14 for receiving shoes 5, 5 (FIG. 6) disposed between side panel 3 and cables.

Numeral 15 designates an extension which extends outwardly from the bottom wall of the guide rails 12, 12. The extension 15 has an upright wall 17, the outer periphery thereof being provided with flange 16. The flange 16 is secured to vehicle structure (not shown) by bolts or other suitable securing means.

The guide rails 12, 12 are made of aluminum based alloy under the extrusion process. The rain gutter 19 is made of synthetic resin. The rain gutter 19 has side portions and front portion having U-shape cross section as clearly shown in FIG. 1. The rain gutter 19 is secured to the guide rails 12, 12 by attachments 20, 20.

Numerals 21, 21 designate pipes for discharging water or rain in the gutter 19 out of the vehicle. At the front portion of the rain gutter 19, a piece of another attachment 23 is provided for attaching an actuating portion 22 of the slide roof device. The actuating portion 22 includes a motor and a gear mechanism for driving cables with shoes 5, 5.

Numeral 25 designates a reinforcement means for the gutter 19. Reinforcement members 26, 26 are provided between guide rails 12, 12. As particularly shown in FIG. 3, a pair of corner pieces 27, 27 are provided at each front end of the guide rails 12, 12 and secured to the gutter 19 through the flange 16 of the guide rails to strengthen the rigidity of the guide rails as well as for guiding the cables.

In FIG. 4, a pair of bent pieces 28, 28 are provided on each front end of the guide rails 12, 12. Each bent piece 28 forms an extended guide rail for slidably receiving the shoes 5, 5 (FIG. 6).

A connecting plate 29 is provided for securing the bent pieces 28, 28 to the gutter 19. The connecting plate 29 has an attachment 23 for securing the actuating portion 22 of the sliding roof device. The connecting plate 29 is formed of aluminum based alloy or high strength synthetic resin to reinforce the connection with the guide rails as well as to absorb the load from the actuating portion 22.

In FIG. 5, the gutter 19 is secured to the flange 16 of the extension 15 of the guide rails 12, 12. The gutter 19 has the attachment 20, each of which has a clip portion 31. The clip portion 31 is inserted into the flange through a hole 32 provided in the flange 16 to fixedly secure the gutter 19 to the guide rails 12, 12.

The gutter 19 also is provided with an inwardly projected portion 30 at the inner side wall of the gutter 19. The projected portion 30 is engaged with the upper wall of space 18' of the guide rails 12, 12 for preventing the gutter 19 from an inadvertent upward removal thereof.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.